House of Lorraine

The House of Lorraine was a cadet branch of the House of Metz that existed from 1473 to 1745. The family acquired the Duchy of Lorraine in 1473 after Nicholas I of Lorraine died without a male heir, and the family would marry into the House of Habsburg in 1736, when Francis of Lorraine married the Austrian empress Maria Theresa of Austria, creating the new "House of Habsburg-Lorraine" dynasty. The House of Lorraine morphed into the new Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, which would rule over Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia until the end of World War I in 1918.